Communications in a wireless network can be interfered by radio frequency devices. For example, microwave ovens, cordless phones and adjacent Wi-Fi networks are potential sources producing continuous or intermittent interference. In order to learn potential interference, network devices such as access points periodically scan the radio frequency environment. The radio frequency environment is a frequency range divided into multiple channels. Each access point scans all the available channels, which is time consuming and not efficient. For example, the time required to scan the channels is proportional to the number of channels, and a considerable amount of time is needed before an access point can scan the same channel again. Besides, a primary duty of an access point is to serve clients in an assigned channel, which requires the access point to spend as less resource as possible on scanning the channels; however, frequent channel scanning can provide updated channel information and is beneficial to wireless intrusion detection and prevention.
A load balancing feature optimizes network resources by distributing clients across different channels. If an access point receives an association request from a new client, the access point determines whether the load balancing feature is enabled. If so, the access point sends a response with an error code to the new client and rejects the new client's association request. If the new client resends the association request to the same access point again after receiving the error code, the new client is admitted by the access point. If the new client's association request has been rejected by two access points, the new client will be admitted by any access point on its third try. However, this load balancing approach depends on the client's behavior and is unpredictable from the perspective of the access point.